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Thursday, October 20, 2016

THE ART OF GROWING UP...ONE STEP AT A TIME....Chapter Two...

Me in 1963

Goggomobil Dart

Me on left, Vicki, one of my workmates at Tozer & Jeffery and Evonne whose sister worked with Vicki and me at T & J. Taken at a party shortly before I left Gympie in 1965. Evonne married Graham Jeffery and they remain in happy wedded bliss to this day.

4IP Colour Radio Guys

Randall, Me and the Austin Healey Sprite. And Randall in his Colour Radio Blazer middle photo above.

The five
years I worked at Tozer and Jeffery, Solicitors – from July, 1960 to July, 1965
- were, without doubt or argument, some of the happiest years of my life.It was a great place to work; and my
co-workers, as well as my boss, John Jeffery and his wife, “Ted” aka Mrs. Edna
Jeffery were wonderful people.Mrs.
Jeffery, of course, was always “Mrs. Jeffery” to the staff.

She and I
got on very well, to the extent she told me as she was driving me home on
the night of my send-off party shortly before I left Gympie for Brisbane she’d
always looked upon me as the daughter she’d never had.She and Mr. Jeffery had two sons, one of
whom, the eldest, Graham also worked within his father’s firm, as I mentioned in my
previous post.

As a parting gift, with
tears in her eyes, Mrs. Jeffery gave me a pair of pearl earrings.

On
reflection, I often wonder when or even if my “partners-in-crime” – the three
other girls in the office – the three other legal secretaries and I ever got
any work done.We must have done so, of
course, but we certainly had a lot of fun while doing so.I think we managed to fit the work in between
the fun!We got away with blue
murder.We became experts at it.Naturally, I won’t divulge who the
ring-leader was.I swore myself to
secrecy with the threat of dire consequences if I dobbed on myself.

Morning
tea, which, in normal circumstances and in normal workplaces, usually is of 10
minutes duration. Not so at Tozer and Jeffery when I was in their employ. Our “staff room” was downstairs in the
“dungeon” as we called it...the basement below street level.

Like
regulars at a pub bar, we each had our own special chair and place to sit, and
woe behold if anyone stole someone else’s chair and place!Mine was a high, swivel chair that stood a
number of inches above the rest, which meant when I sat in it I was towering
over proceedings...holding court! The conductor of a symphony orchestra would've been proud!

I
concocted a plan with the other girls, telling them I’d give them a sign – a
head’s up - when my game was set in place, about to begin.They knew not to react, but to go along with
the plan. It was a plan, to our amusement, I often put into play.We all deserved Oscars for our performances.

As soon
as I’d notice Mrs. Jeffery stirring in readiness to go back upstairs, to return
to work I’d raise a controversial subject, one I knew would stimulate Mrs.
Jeffery’s interest.My wicked strategy
worked every time without fail. It was
akin to catching fish in a bowl.

Within
seconds, Mrs. Jeffery was sucked in and a lengthy, in-depth debate ensued.

If she
ever did wake up to my contrived schemes she never let on.We were often down there in the “dungeon” for
an hour or more solving the world’s problems.Many interesting, intelligent conversations were conducted.And those amongst us who had their lunch
hours between 12 noon and 1 pm had little time to knuckle down to their typing
between morning tea and their lunch break!Our lunch hours were staggered. Some took the earlier hour, and others,
like me, took the 1 pm to 2 pm break.

We were a
wickedly, mischievous lot, of that there is no doubt, but we did get our work
done and done successfully, otherwise we’d been shown the door.We never were.

I’m still
friends with a couple of the girls with whom I worked, and Graham Jeffery is
still a cherished friend, too.When the
subject of those morning teas arises we laugh and wonder how the hell we got
away with our nonsense for so long and so often!

In 1963, a
new boy arrived in town, drawing much attention to himself, not only for his good looks, but also because of the car he drove...a little white Goggomobil Dart. It was the first one, and probably ever the only one, seen in Gympie.

Randall was his name; he joined the radio announcers at the local radio station,
4GY.

Long story short, that handsome
young fellow and I eventually became boyfriend and girlfriend; and eventually he sold the Goggo and bought a Austin Healey Sprite. We loved the Sprite, but missed the dear little Goggo.

In
January, 1965, on his 21st birthday, we became engaged.Shortly thereafter Randall left Gympie to
take up a position at Radio 4IP in Ipswich as one of the “Colour Radio”
guys.In those days 4IP was a major
force in the radio world in Queensland.

Mid-1965
I decided the time had come for me to leave Gympie.With Randall working in Ipswich, Brisbane was
my choice, my obvious destination.Fortunately,
through a friend, I found a flat (and a flatmate) in Toowong, an inner, western
suburb of Brisbane.Toowong was about
30kms, give or take from Ipswich...a lot closer than the 209kms between Gympie
and Ipswich

On
reflection, once my mind was made up all the pieces fell into place, one by
one.

To all and
sundry I announced I was going to move to live and work in the city, Brisbane.
Immediately I started turning the wheels towards that direction.

My boss,
John Jeffery, upon my handing him one month’s notice, said he wasn’t surprised
at my decision. He’d been expecting it.

While I sat in the chair before him in his office, he picked up his
telephone and called a solicitor/lawyer friend of his who was a partner in an inner-city
Brisbane law firm.

John Jeffery called Tony
Atkinson, one of the partners in largest law firm in Brisbane at the time, and supposedly,
in the southern hemisphere....Morris, Fletcher & Cross. Morris, Fletcher & Cross are now MinterEllison.

From Wikipedia:- MinterEllison is a multinational professional services firm based in Australia. The
firm has offices in five countries and 15 cities, including in every Australian
capital city, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Ulaanbaatar. By number of lawyers
it is the largest provider of legal services in Australia. In the 2016 Acritas
brand index, the Firm was named in the top 10 law firm brands in the Asia
Pacific region, being regarded for "top-level litigation" and for
"high-value work".For the 2014/2015 financial year,
MinterEllison acted on a large number of M&A transactions with a total deal
value of A$30 billion as well as A$34 billion worth of infrastructure projects
during the year. It also advised 70 per cent of the ASX 50 companies, a group
that represents the large-cap component of the Australian stock market.

Formerly known as Minter Ellison
Lawyers, MinterEllison was a member of the Big Six leading Australian law firms
before that term was superseded by a series of international law firm mergers.In March 2015,
MinterEllison dropped "lawyers" from its name, along with the space
between "Minter" and "Ellison". The firm announced that
these changes were part of its new strategy of both emphasising diversification
into non-legal services such as project management, consulting and other
professional services, and also no longer insisting upon widely-accepted
grammatical conventions. Chief Executive Tony Harrington told the Australian
Financial Review that the change in branding and strategy is the firm adapting
to "phenomenal change in the market: change that encompasses
technology-driven standardised products, increased in-house capacity at
clients, increased liberalisation of syntactical norms, and ever-consolidating
larger businesses." MinterEllison is aiming for substantial growth,
planning to increase revenue from roughly A$400 million to around A$600 million
by 2020. In April 2016, Minter Ellison launched a contract lawyer business,
Flex, to provide clients with an alternative cost model for legal services.

MinterEllison's origins can be traced
back to 1827, when Frederick Wright Unwin was admitted to practice in New South
Wales. Its first international office was opened in London in 1974, and its roots
in China date back to the 1980s, when it was part of the Beijing Interjura
consultancy (1987-1993) and though a co-operation agreement with Great Wall Law
Firm (the law firm of China's Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade)
signed in 1990.

In 1986, Ellison Hewison & Whitehead merged with Gillotts and with Minter Simpson & Co to become
Minter Ellison.

In 1992, Minter Ellison and Morris Fletcher & Cross merged to
become Minter Ellison Morris Fletcher
and in 1995, the firm officially becomes known as Minter Ellison. In 2000, the Canberra office merged with Deacon Graham & James.

The firm established offices in Hong
Kong in 2000, Shanghai in 2001, Beijing in 2010, and Ulaanbaatr in 2012.

On 1 September 2001 the New Zealand
(Auckland and Wellington) law firm of Rudd
Watts & Stone changed its name to Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (this firm is a member of the
MinterEllison Legal Group and as an 'associated' firm does not form part of the
integrated MinterEllison partnership.)

I sat transfixed as Mr.
Jeffery spoke on the phone. “I’ve a
lass here who wants to live in the city. Do you have a place for her there? You
do! That’s great!”

Looking
to me, he said, “When can you start?”

“Umm…six
weeks, I…I guess…I’ll need a little time to settle in etc.I’ll have to find somewhere to live...” I
stammered in return.

“Okay….Lee will be there at “such–and-such-a-time at such-and-such-a-day”,” he replied.

That was
it! As simple as making a telephone call, I had a job. No interview was
required. In those days, in the mid-Sixties, country girls were snapped up by
city law firms like we were rare pieces of gold.

Now, all
I had to do was find somewhere to live, again by remote control.

I wanted
to “flat” by myself. (a “flat” is a unit or apartment to those of you who have
never heard of this description).

Even back
then I wanted desperately my own “space” and didn’t take kindly to the idea of
sharing my living area with anyone else. My mother and grandmother wouldn’t
hear of it, though. That was one thing they put their collective “foot” down
upon.

Begrudgingly,
I telephoned a girl I used to know. Glenda
had moved to Brisbane a couple of years earlier. Explaining my plight to her,
she agreed to help me out if she could.

Again, my
timing was perfect.

Fortunately,
a workmate of hers had a younger sister who was looking for a “flat-mate” to
share her living expenses etc. Everything was falling into place for me, and as
yet, I’d not even left Gympie to put the square pieces into the square holes or
the round pieces into the round holes.

All I
needed to do was work through the four weeks to the day of my departure, pack
my meager possessions and buy a train ticket.

Once more,
the winds were blowing favourably for me.

A
neighbours’ house was being painted during this period. One of the painters
drove back to Brisbane each weekend to spend time with his family.

Willingly,
he offered me a lift whenever I was ready to leave Gympie.

PS....Randall headed off to New York in late November, 1965...returned to Australia in late November, 1974....we eventually married in 1976...then separated in 1986...but we've remained friends to this day....

30 comments:

In some ways, the word of mouth system worked (and works) really well. And in my experience, speaking of work, a lot of lenience was given to those who did 'work'. Lenience which continued, unless and until it was taken advantage of.

Hey there, Gail. I was very lucky to have had my first job in the big world with those people and those I worked with. We had it pretty good - better than pretty good, I reckon. They were good days/years.

It has been quite a while. I hope you have been doing well. May we display your header on our new site directory? As it is now, the site title (linked back to your home page) is listed, and we think displaying the header will attract more attention. In any event, we hope you will come by and see what is going on at SiteHoundSniffs.com.

I couldn't get past the one hour lunch breaks! In my entire working career, I never had that. In factories you get a half hour and if you're not working again when the whistle blows, the boss ain't happy!But like you, I loved my job and would still be there if the factory hadn't closed and moved its operations overseas.

I'm surprised you were surprised at the mention of one hour lunch breaks, River. It was the norm then, and no doubt still is in many areas. As I went on through the workforce in other various roles lunch breaks didn't exist at all in some...but in the offices in which I worked that was the norm. Not always did I take the whole hour, but during my days/years with Tozer and Jeffery that is what the staff, and our bosses did in most instances.

I have a confession to make... I did not read all of the Wikipedia article you pasted in but as usual I read everything else. I hope you won't strike me with your riding crop.

I had never heard of a Goggomobil Dart and for a moment I thought you had just made up the name. But then I googled it (or goggomobiled it!!!) and discovered how modern and distinctive these cars were - fit for a radio DJ playboy and his moll (Hopkirk).

Oh, the Goggo was so much fun, Yorkie. No doors...in the days of tight, straight skirts, too, which made it fun to climb aboard! The seats could slide back and up which made climbing aboard easier...a bit! A fibre-glass body (the car, not me), they were as light as a feather. Fun! Fun! Fun!

I forgive you for not read all the Wiki data...I probably wouldn't have done so in your position, either! I only included it for ease of information...saving me having to write it all. :)

Oh my! I don't remember from which blog I hopped, but I'm so glad to be here.I absolutely love bloggers who look back into their history and print out their memories for us. It's so wonderful to be a voyeur, huh!

Hi Helsie....I went for a ride one night the the first ever E-Type Jag in Queensland. I wasn't interested in the fellow who owned it, though...not romantically. And coincidentally, many years later when I returned to Gympie in 1998 my next door neighbour (the husband of the couple) was the E-Type owner's brother.